As a real estate agent, leads are the best and the easiest way for us to keep business growing. The best way to look for new clients, after all, is to start with people who are already in the market looking to buy or sell a property.
Start With People You Know
It all begins with what we call the sphere of influence. The best source of real estate leads for new realtors is usually friends, family, and other relatives. For most realtors who are just starting out, you may not have the capital for buying leads.
That is why for most realtors who are just starting, the best way to generate real estate leads is to get the word out to your close circles that you have begun your new journey as a realtor and that if they or anyone they know is dipping their toes into the real estate market, you are the person to call. It’s free, it’s efficient, and it’s a straightforward way to build that initial client base, which is crucial for those new to the industry.
Advertise Aggressively
Once you’ve built up a comfortable starting client base, it’s time to spread out and get your name across a bigger market. Use marketing tools such as paid ads on social media, build a website or your own page, anything to get the word out about your business and get more attention towards you and your brand. Make sure you, your brand, and your contact information is out there and easy to find.
Attend Networking Events
Depending on the city where you are, your local chamber of commerce or other commercial organization may be organizing networking and informational events for people across different industries. You can take advantage of these opportunities by showing up and getting acquainted with other big names in the area. Who knows, they might be the next source of your real estate leads.
Establish Yourself As An Educational Authority
An excellent way to have leads come to you is to build a reputation as an educational source when it comes to real estate. Social media and blogs are perfect for this. Buyer or seller, people are interested in what's going on in their zip code. By establishing yourself as the local expert, you can start to generate leads just by providing them with something of value. In this case, information and neighborhood updates.
Go To Open Houses
In open houses, potential buyers tend to go without having any agents. Those events could be your chance to strike up conversations and gets leads. Remember, not everyone in the open house will go home with a brand new purchase, so you can still end up helping them as their agent. And unlike Bold Leads and Zillow Premier Agent, it's completely free.
Try Cold-Calling
The classic method of real estate lead generation may be less ubiquitous than it used to be, but it doesn’t mean it’s less effective. Cold calling has gotten a bit of a negative reputation lately, but it has been widely practiced because it works. Any lead is a good lead, and if you can get a few leads from an hour or two of cold calling, then it’s worth it.
Use Paid Leads
If you have the capital to spare, paying for real estate leads is one of the most cost-efficient ways to drive up your business. You can easily target a specific area and then let the AI handle the searching and filtering for you. All you have to do is make those few calls.
Partner With A Small Business
Small or local businesses are often looking for new customers and want to entice people to come to their store. For example, see if you can create a deal with a local coffee shop. So whenever someone shows your QR code or your business card, they get 5% off their cup of coffee.
It's a win-win for everybody, and you have given your potential customers something of value. This is important because you have shown them why they should work with you. And you will be known positively for being the guy who got them a discount on their coffee.
Overview
Overall, lead gen for buyers and sellers leads can be very challenging. The main takeaways are you don't have to have a ton of capital to generate high-quality leads. It will take more time and effort, but it will work all the same. And when reaching out to generate leads, always remember to offer something of value, even if its yourself as a local real estate agent.
